History
PoNJA-GenKon is a listserve group established in March 2003. The acronym stands for Post-1945 (Nineteen forty five) Japanese Art Discussion Group / Gendai Bijutsu Kondankai.
The co-founders, Reiko Tomii and Miwako Tezuka, are art historians based in New York City, and it was their dream to bring together specialists and professionals with interest in Japanese art produced since 1945. Since its inception, PoNJA-GenKon has grown to become a large international network of people with shared interests and passions. We value the creative and intellectual input of individuals who can contribute to this sense of community and to the field of contemporary Japanese art.
Today, PoNJA-GenKon has grown to include more than 200 global members. Many of them are leaders and innovators of the field, which we proudly call “Ponja.” PoNJA-GenKon is a virtual community but it has created a physical presence through organizing and co-organizing conferences in collaboration with academic and art institutions.
Read the 10-year anniversary interview with Reiko Tomii here.
Mission
As our name and logo suggest, the goal of PoNJA-GenKon is to bring together specialists and professionals in the English-speaking world with interest in post-1945 Japanese art, and to offer a forum for interaction and debate on issues addressing postwar Japanese art and Japanese modernity. We embrace the spirit of collaboration and colleagiality.